Whatever Happened to: New York Dolls by Morrissey - Look At The Time issue #1 (1977)

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Hi-Res, click to enlarge

Scans by Jake - Thanks for sharing 

Various Artists - "Summer Stomps VOL. I" (STOMP TAPE 01)

Heeeeeeeey!!!

Whassup? Hope this letter (erm...post) finds you all you guys and gals pretty well! I know, it seems a little bit like I totally dropped this space but as you can see for yourself I'm not. I'm just having no time at all for posts and wanking, at least as Ι used to fool around the previous years. Anyway, here I am. I told you before that I'm gonna show up from time to time and that it's going to happen anytime my mojo is coming back to me. It's almost end of the summertime and I'm still here in the big city due to many-many obligations. But the time has come, man and next Friday hopefully I'm gonna leave Athens for vacations and that was a reason enough to make a new digital 'mixtape' to celebrate the occasion! It's been done real quickly. The procedure was once again based on the formula of "not so much thinking, man", so I just drove myself through my stuff picking out/bringing out whatever my eye was catching and thought I wanted to be in and ripped the shit outta them. The usual WTS faves, you know - 60s garage punk, frat, rhythm and soul, rhythm and blues, real rock & roll basically. Anyway, hope you like it and whether or not have already set yourself to the summertime mode, these toons I think will fix your mood. Till next time (whenever that is), keep the rocks rollin'!

Cheers,
Mihaleez

Various Artists - "Songs The Missing Souls Taught Us" (WAIL TAPE 01)

Hi there! Hope 2017 will be a far better year for each and every single one of you guys and gals.

I know it's been a while since the last time but you know... Not much spare time, not much appetite, not much in general. It seems that I lost my mojo (or interest) for bloggin' matters, but I'm not shutting down the damn thing, cause I love it so much and it gave me even more the last 7 years. And maybe it's for better to post something when I'm really in the mood for it. So keep checkin' people, I'm sure from time to time will pop up something cool from your old hang out.

Anyway, on our subject: Some of the things that failed to renew my faith on modern bands lately, is the lack of fantasy and passion. Most of 'em seem to stay on the "looking good" concerns and they're recycling the same old cliches. I mean OK, you're not going to re-invent the wheel by playing rock & roll, but if you don't have faith, passion and...sex in your music, fuckin' leave it man, try something else for your own good (and ours)... Maybe I'm an old fart now, but I'd rather listen to Slim Harpo or The Pretty Things than to place an LP by the Tell Tale Hearts, and believe me I dig A LOT Mike Stax's old comrades. So, if I'm bored with a band like the Hearts lately, go figure what happens with a much newer combo who choose to play R&B or garage with a much less passion...

The Missing Souls outta Lyon, France are the real shit though, trust me! After three singles and a full album, these soulful fuzz-nuts made me ask for more every single time I put one of their slices on my turntable, man and believe me that's an often repeated procedure the last few months. They don't write songs of their own, but who fuckin' cares with a taste like this!!? Their ability to choose and rebuild amazing 60s garage-frat-punk and obscure soul classics having me not caring at all for not owning "original" material. In fact, I'm praying to stay that way!

If you haven't bought some (if not all) of their stuff already, stop reading now and go place an order. I mean, NOW brothers and sisters! In any other case, you definitely understand why I'm raving so much about them and decided to make a comp with all the original versions they have picked on so far. Again, this was at first for my own listening pleasure, but it's such a good selection of songs that I had to share it with you people.

Woooo, my (missing) soul!!!!

Cheers!

The Real Kids - "The Real Kids" (LP, Red Star Records / Bronze Records - 1977)

Hmmmm... It's quite difficult to write something 'new' for a band like The Real Kids, especially if you have done it already in the past... I mean, really now, is there anyone in here not knowing who the Real Kids are/were and what they've done? Come on! And I'm sure many of you lads and ladies, have this and the other Real Kids stuff already by the Norton reissue program just like me, am I right? So why this?! Because The Real Kids' 1977 debut is the perfect rock 'n' roll record, that's why! Recorded in three nights at the Ultima studios in New York City and it's the perfect blend of captivating power pop melodies and fiery teen punk energy. And this is the UK pressing of their debut monument, ripped by the man with the best ears and equipment around, the mighty Jean-Phillipe! A reason enough to grab this one more time and crank it up to your fuckin' boring neighbors!

Various Artists - "Garage Punk Unknowns Parts 1 & 2, Mid-Sixties America's Teen Garage Rock Action Blast! 1965-1967" (CD, No Label / Crypt? - 199?)

Hey there!
Bought the other day the "remastered" CD from Crypt of what was once upon a time, "Back From The Grave" Volumes 1 & 2 LPs and I'm telling you people, I was very GLAD that the master of primitivism the great in many levels Tim Warren have finally decided to update sound and packaging on the ol' classic bibles of RAW sixties punk that many of us here grew up with! And that led me to post these...
For some strange reason, probably due to (then) problems with rights, there's no Crypt logo on 'em. The whole design and attitude though betrays that Tim had a hand (or two...) in putting together these, he-he. Anyway and just for geeking reasons I'm telling this, I think the only time "Garage Punk Unknowns" had a Crypt mark on was on this 4 vinyl box. But then again, the box got out in 1998 and these CDs in 1999 (I think)... Who knows? Tim works in mysterious ways.
So for the newbies, "Garage Punk Unknowns" were the spinoffs of "Back from The Grave" volumes (along with the "Teenage Shutdown" series that I totally worship). Crude, unpsychedelic 60s punk raunch from the teens that tried to imitate the Stones and the Kinks (and thank God) they utterly failed! If you're looking for the original proto-punks in rock & roll history, these pricks in here are the ones man. Cheap guitars, pounding drums, screams and adolescent snark all the way!
Fuck Hippies. Amen.

I just CAN'T WAIT for this: A Jim Jarmusch's documentary on Iggy and The Stooges!!!

MC5 - "Back in the USA" b/w "Tutti Frutti" (7" Single, Atlantic - 1970; German Mono Mix)

Hi there! Let's go on this quickly just like the rock and roll tradition commands! Here's another one of the super cool Jean Philippe findings. One of those that only my pal from somewhere in the south of France and his mighty pair of ears are able to dig and emerge through the dustbins and the eBay auctions. The well known 5ive two-sider on Chuck and Little Richard has now a very good reason for you to be heard (again) through the WTS gateway. Here's what was waiting for me in the mailbox, this morning:

"...Another fact: our favorite 70's LP are sonically fuck*d-up: Raw Power, LAMF... the MC5 2nd LP is not great either. Very thin-sounding, with virtually no bass. The French pressing is a little bit bassier, but that's not a night and day difference. I recently ripped the German mono single shown below. If you have decent speakers, the bass on this one will put a smile on your face (on side 1 at least). It has wall-shaking sub-bass (but you really need speakers that can handle deep bass)."

 Blast on and have a great weekend! MC5 with BASS!!

 

Dead Moon - "Echoes of the Past" (2xCD, Sub Pop - 2006)

I woke myself up today to the sad news of Andrew Loomis departure. Dead Moon for us the few rock & roll infected here in Greece were and still are something special and something different. We knew and we cared about them when nobody else gave a shit around the world and I'm fuckin' proud for it. I mean, even the fuckin' local Metal Hammer back then, gave them coverage... 

I've seen them play live always with the same set-up (all three placed together in the same row right in front of the stage), from small venues to open air festivals luckily many-many times. And Andrew was always in the middle of Fred and Toody and you knew that the show was about to begin when this old Jack Daniels bottle full of melted candle on the drum kit, was catching fire again. He used to shoot beer on the drumskins quite often too, such a show off, he-he...

Dead Moon were the last true and pure garage punk outfit. Not garage rock. Fuck it, this is punk!  Forget all the lame ass retro shit bands full of squares in paisley shirts and beatle boots. They were crude, they recorded themselves even cruder and they pressed (themselves again) their own vinyls (CD? wtf are you talkin' about man?!) on the same ancient lathe that The Kingsmen cut "Louie Louie". I have always been fascinated by this tale but it was their dark (and I mean, DARK) rock & roll approach that made me a longtime fan. And their privitism. Man, they were cavemen enough to annoy even Tim Warren, but hey no surprise we're talkin' about a Fred Cole leading gang, remember? And they reminded the whole world that you didn't have to be a straight edge hardcore punk loyal to be a "D.I.Y." pioneer as well. And they stayed that way, way too long to have any right to call themselves "indie", but never cared much about it. But there's I guess where lies the difference between a way of life and a trend...

Anyway, this one here is a perfect example of what a perfect compilation is. I still feel strange looking at the label logo though but the guys over Sub Pop let wisely Fred Cole himself to pick up the material so no further questions about the quality I suppose. 

R.I.P. Andrew. Sex Murder Art...

Various Artists - "Savage Evangelists, The GaragePunk Gospel According to..." (WAILCD 02)

Heeeeeyyyyy, everything's OK? Hope so! Quickly: as you can easily guess, that's another shitty WTS compilation for your listening pleasure! Don't know about your neighbors' though, he-he... Anyway, the process remains the s(h)ame. Your host here in a dervish kinda mode, opens the vaults and rips the stuff the way exactly he listens to them! Ooops, I've gone too far this time, right? I'm so way out of ma head that I speak for myself in third person, not a good thing... So, I tried to keep a balance and not to include "mainstream hits" like Psychotic Reaction or Pushin' Too Hard but not go the other way too with stuff way to geeky. Fuck man, we're talking 'bout garagepunk here, rock and roll's ultra crude, primitive and mindless prick so no fuckin' geeks allowed!!! Hope you enjoy yourself with this as much I did when I was creating this obviously Tim Warren influenced little monster!!! 100% Teen Unpsychedelic 60s Teen Punk!!! Cheers!!!

Various Artists - "Teenage Shutdown: Jump, Jive and Harmonize" (CD, Teenage Shutdown / Crypt in reality - 1995)

Howdy people! Back from a couple of days off (thankfully there are few more on September's starting) but still in a slacking mood... You know, Greece's having many reasons to be in heat except for the summer, he-he...

Anyway as most (if not all of them) posts here are the results of things I'm crashing in daily and kick me to write and present to you stuff I had previously led my hands on and wasted my ears to and so is this one. My good friend JP once introduced me to the Steve Hoffman forum and even though I hate purists, it has many interesting moments if not educational or funny!

I came yesterday across a TEENAGE SHUTDOWN discussion that if these semi-boot Crypt series are any good and as most conversations ends up, it got bigger and wider on garage/60s punk comps mixing along (what else?) the sound qualities matter... Don't know if any of these guys there are following this jerk behind this blog, but if they do please do yourself a favor and go somewhere else guys for sounding matters. I mean, rock and roll is everything else but fidelity! And even if these next words sound/look/are a cliché, are 100% true as well. Rock and roll is sweat, sex, rawness and sloppiness. It's moving and grooving and having a good time. How this old mod punk song goes? Ah yeh: FUCK ART, LET'S DANCE! 

For me the Shutdowns, are even better than BACK FROM THE GRAVE volumes! Actually Shutdowns are better from anything else except for the iconic NUGGETS (yep, PEBBLES included).  I'm not going to enter into the 'legit' discussion. Of course there lying many well pointed opinions, but firstly I don't know actually what's what and secondly, I don't care as long as these are so well packaged and mastered (yes, even if it's from the bands 45s directly and not from the master tapes).

Here's the first volume and probably my fave one! The "Pounding, Pulverizing, All-Out Punk Dance Ravers" sub sets from the word go, the recipe for this. And what I like THE MOST on these (as the legend says, Moptop Mike owned but Tim Warren chosen) 45s it's the all American feeling into! These frat punks are deeply rooted on the black R&B and Soul acts of their country and day than the British Invasion gangs. Chuckster, Bo, Little Richard and the less known Rhythm and Soul acts (listen to the Shandells' "Gorilla" version or the Us Four "Alligator"). And of course it includes some very well known now tracks like the comp's subtitle of the east L.A. garage legends Thee Midniters or the Lyres well covered and strongly Kingsmen influenced "Busy Body" from the Jolly Green Giants. For fuck's sake it has a prime Del-Shannon mover also!

Don't know if they're still around but if they are, grab 'em with no second thoughts. Trust me, I know my rock and roll... 

The Victims (NYC) - Excerpt from Ugly Things Magazine, Issue No 27 by Laurent Bigot (2008)

Many Thanx to JohnnyQ for sending me this piece some moons back!!!

The Sonics - "Don't Believe In Christmas/Santa Claus" (7"single, Norton - 1997)

*** Have a Very Loud Christmas!!! ***

 

The Stooges - "The Stooges" (LP, Elektra - 1969 ~ 1st U.S. Pressing)

Hey! Whassup?
We 're late on many things but except for the usual shit my laptop's gone, too! Thankfully the loss on data matters wasn't big, but till the time comes for a new one (not much money these days, I'm living in Athens Greece, remember?) I'm typing these words from an old tiny Asus netbook that my fingers can barely touch the buttons on it, with no extra drives for ripping even CD things, not enough space for downloading (20 GB HDD and the 60% of them been taken by the OS), so go figure the situation... Talking about blogging right?!

I guess it's time for my partner to save my ass, he-he! We haven't mention Scott Asheton's loss and we haven't wrote a word for his savagery importance, but come to think of it, do you really need White Trash Soul jerks to tell you 'bout Scotty? Naaahhhhh! But you NEED in diverse, White Trash Soul jerks for bringing you the best possible sources in order to hear your rock & roll the way this should be heard...

"BTW, you probably heard Scott Asheton recently passed away. I thought that maybe you could post a good vinyl rip (mine!) of the stooges 1st LP (I know: you hate that hippie 10 minutes tracks). This is a killer pre-proto-punk LP, and the vinyl first US pressing smokes. Crunchy fuzz & crystal clear drums, kills the shitty sounding CD-remasters. Just my 2 cents.
Good evening!"

That's right, that's my pal's shot on me yesterday ( I haven't even replied yet I just ran into this). I love him man, I dig the way he thinks I am a 30 something one track minded prick (actually I AM, he-he) that questions even the Stooges!!! OK, I never liked jams in rock & roll (kick out them!!!) but there's an excuse for our beloved Ann - Arborers for those crappy extended tracks... John Cale, man! Major mistake, never count on a Velevet Underground member... I mean, NEVER! (Hate mails accepted on the known email address of the blog, ha-ha!)

So what we were saying? Ah yes, who's the most powerful drummer ever? John Bonham? Pffffffffff......

R.I.P. Scotty

[Re-Up!!!] Flamin' Groovies - "Shake Some Action" (LP, Philips - 1976 ~ French original pressing)

From Kicksville66

Flamin' Groovies - "Shake Some Action" (LP, Philips - 1976 ~ French original pressing)

You know, taking breaks from something you REALLY love, doesn't mean necessarily you won't be interested anymore. Something like this, happened to both of us here at WTS the previous months. I've started a new blog the previous year exclusively dedicated to my fave basketball team and as the games were getting tougher and the attention on this bigger, I naturally turned my head more into it (the back to back European Championship title didn't help things either but you know, I'm not complaining at all!). Same thing for JP. He had found a place (a 'sonic-masonic temple' in fact as I like to call it, I'm teasing you bro, he-he!) to share his knowledge and passion on all things technical that I'm not able to understand and get right and as a result of all these was more or less, this site to have fewer posts as it used to had...
But we're back! We sit our lazy ass down once again for a double shot of WAX love and some mo' cool things for your listening pleasure, starting with this!
Perfect timing's everything in life, right?! I had in my mind to 'reply' to my friend Gyro and his great recent  Flamin' Groovies posts on Twilight Zone with something 'rare', but JP and without knowing it gave me something even better! A European (French) pressing of the 'Shake Some Action' masterpiece!! "Big deal" some might say, "who needs another SSA post"? Well, everyone! As my buddy mailed me:

This French pressing sounds different from the US or Canada LP I've heard (and also different from CD). They are quite muddy. Not as bad as LAMF UK, but too much bass and not much highs.The French version solves this issue.

Boom! The basterd was right once again!! I've had it in two supposedly different CD versions previously (mind you, the one a Jap) and never ( I mean, NEVER!) heard before this POP jewel sounding SOOOOO good and fresh! I was totally aware of the good job Philips did back then with the single (who handled Sire releases in Europe and picked mysteriously on the amazing Capitol 'version 2' take for the single - a BRILLIANT MOVE!) but not for the long play!!! Do I need to say more?

PS: Stay tuned and check constantly for re-ups...

Iggy & the Stooges - "Unrough Powder: The Trueborn Raw Power Mixes" (WAXEP001)

Well, well, well... Is there anything about "Raw Power" that hasn't been said or written yet, especially after all those previous years re-mixes, re-masters and re-issues? Quite honestly, no. I just deleted a 3000 words piece cause it had nothing utterly new to tell... Lester Bangs did it first and it sucked too some times. Come on, feel free to abuse me for the previous line but the best thing ever wrote (and it sums perfectly the punk rock attitude) was this Troggs appreciation (RIP Reg Presley) on Who put the Bomp... I hate the 'Funhouse' review!
Include ourselves of course to the above, cause if you can recall almost two years back to this day, we have tried to give you some of our postures on the subject by posting the rare original UK CBS vinyl. So?
So, we had absolutely nothing to discover hither, at least the we way did with "L.A.M.F."  and we knew that from the very start. It was however the natural next step for us to try something with "Raw Power". I mean, the similarities with "L.A.M.F." are spotless. A hugely influential rock & roll record, a blurry history/mythology, a long lasting 'bad production' debate, a 'Revisited' like attempt (Iggy's 1997 remix) and the most important thing, is 'the other' fave ever record for the Bobcat Twins (JP must own 20 different issues)!
What we also knew was that CBS was no Track at all. There were/are many bad pressed or bad transferred "Raw Power" editions around through the years (the first ever CD edition is a very good example) but if you're looking for secretly different mixes to be found somewhere, I'm sorry no such thing here (with the only known exception of "Search & Destroy" of the UK press). Actually what we had on our hands and deserved to be used for WAX-ing was the "Original Bowie mix" in some pleasant pressings, "Iggy's remix" which btw lead us to some arguments with JP (a VERY infrequent situation - I like it, he hate it) and the often bootlegged "Original Raw Power Mixes" again by Iggy, which in most cases were barely audible but never altogether compiled. Bomp's "Rough Power" had 'em all of course if you want to object, but this WEIRD reverb/echo storm throughout the songs presence, destroyed everything and makes us STRONGLY believe now that 'some hand' added these ridiculous and totally extraneous effects just to sound 'different'. Don't get us wrong, WE LOVE Bomp and you know it well BUT this is clearly some cook kind of thing.
There was no motivation for us to deal actually with the first two well known foresaid mixes and it's easily understood the reason why of this. All of them are in print now and most of the 'different' pressings have been posted on internet many times before. If we had to touch our hands somewhere there was only one path for us to cross. The one of the 'Original Mixes'.
So why an EP this time? Cause after countless conversations my buddy convinced me he was right. Quality over quantity as he wrote me! The often recycled WABX radio broadcast has a crappy sound in all cases/releases and any thought on using it, abandoned immediately. There's no need to represent something's not worth a shit (and it ain't won't worth a shit!). On the other hand what through the ages surfaced as what was Iggy's original essay that annoyed all the jerks at MainMan, were only four songs (Search & Destroy, Hard To Beat, Raw Power and Shake Appeal). We couldn't do much except to find the best ones. And that's what we did. Look no further, these are actually the best sounding survivors, scattered in four different and very hard to find now bootlegs plus the rare as hell "Search & Destroy" version of the UK press, for the first time all gathered in one!
We found A LOT entertaining the way we created the covers with this 'hostile to Bowie' approach. After all we're not his biggest fans, he-he... We sure like what he did at times, and as you perhaps, we both grew with his mix, that's what we learned to like and love but hey, this is an Iggy and the Stooges 'release', dedicated to the most furious rock & roll ever commited to tape, so a hate note and a sour feel it is incumbent upon, right? RIGHT!!!
And, oh! One more thing... The 'badly produced/recorded Ashetons' steam engine or the 'visionary' Bowie mix are in questioning with these tapes...Hear for yourself, and let us know!

"It wasn't about production and it wasn't about being popular. It was about this gut-level expression, almost like a soul singer. And it's no accident that it comes from Detroit". 

Rod Firestone, 

Rubber City Rebels 

Crushed Butler - "Uncrushed - First Punks from the British Underground 1969-1971" (CD, RPM - 2005)

The perfect example of someone being ahead of its time. Of the few bands deserving the tag 'proto-punk'. Legendary Jesse Hector, Darryl Read and Alan Butler's three piece dynamite and predecessors of the Helter Skelter and the sadly underrated Hammersmith Gorillas (later just Gorillas) was probably Britain's own answer to MC5's soul guttering rock & roll (Whaaat? The Deviants? Come on, you must be joking right..?)! Hippie haters and prog-rock's squall enemies, were just what the Tubes immortalized with their classic "I was a Punk before you were a Punk" a few years later...Back to the basics rock & rollers, primal screamers and ex-mod mobsters. Waaaaaaayyy too wild to be compared with any other act of their time. They blew Slade, Atomic Rooster and Mott among many as the story smugly is saying now and they set the parameters for the generations to come (glam, pub rock, punk). Sometimes I really wonder what the public was then thinking by consuming massively Led Zep's pseudo blues crap...? If you think you 're offended by the last statement, stay away - if not, well this is the shit!

The 13th Floor Elevators - "The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators - Original Stereo Mix" (LP, Inernational Artist - 1966)

Fuck fake ass psychedelia, SF late sixties hippie scene, peace, love and understanding! What the world (still) need's punk rock! In a time that bankers and religion leaders doing whatever the fuck they want, we 're not having the privilege of 'peace'. I live in a land that day by day all its social spar is collapsing in front of your eyes gloriously and swankily. Everything's for sale now (history, ethos, consciousness - the far right is growing rapidly and all this to the place that gave birth to democracy...) and you just don't have the right to remain in silence. Fuck your generation baby! And somehow all these shit are linked for me with the hippies. I mean, call me crazy you might be right, I never read for a 'leader' of today to admit he was part of the punk scene, but many for the opposite. I wish Joe Strummer to had an influence even a minor to some jerk up there but (naturally) he was not.
The Elevators were the only psychedelic band ever, all others were a bunch of lame ass imitators or some 'let's get some drugs and shag some chicks with a good reason' wankers. Period! OK Syd Barrett's Floyd were the European similar/twin but from there nothing else stands for psychedelic, at least for me (you see - I'm a very Democratic person, he-he!). And what seems crazy and weird to me still is the birthplace of this band. I guess Texas wasn't always the world center of obscurantists... And this is as groundbreaking as a record can be! Come on, you don't need me to tell you HOW IMPORTANT the Elevators were, right? A possessed bunch of acid punks, flushed on drugs and armed with the most dangerous rock & roll of their time. Roky was always a stoned murmuring James Brown in a mix with Dion and Syd Barrett and this album is the shocking ancestor of a generation about to come with 'dope, guns and fucking in the streets'. Thankfully Roky didn't had Syd's future. From time to time fed us with masterpieces like 'I Think of Demons' and 'Don't Slander Me' to quench our thirst. Anyway, what the WTS team has to offer is NOT the usual CD recently remastered version (or not) , but the old plastic grooved STEREO. I was never good at it so here's what Jean Philippe sent me along with the links:

"And FWIW, here's my 2 cents usual audiophile shit contribution (btw, what follows is also true for 'Easter Everywhere'):

As far as we know, the REAL original stereo mix of the 13th Elevators has never been reissued (even as a bootleg). In the late 70's, a slightly different mix was released by International Artist label. These LPs are known as 'Masterfonics' version (because that's what you can read in the dead wax). A good mix, but not as good as the true original stereo mix (some unnecessary echo/reverb was added), which has crystal clear high frequencies. Over the years, 'The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators' has been reissued countless times, unfortunately not from the original mix, but from a very poor copy made from Masterfonics LP. You can easily tell which is which: on Masterfonics LP, the intro of 'You're Gonna Miss Me' has some distortion, and the intro of 'Don't Fall Down' is missing a few notes. The same mix was used for the pricey 2012 vinyl box set 'Music Of The Spheres'. International Artists record label claimed their stereo version is 'a remastered version of the original stereo mix', but that's not true, as evidenced by the aforementioned flaws found on the Masterfonics version. The 2010 CD box set 'Sign Of The 3-Eyed Men', contains an alternate stereo mix, not the original mix. Frankly, those two box sets look incredibly cool, but are a major disappointment sound quality-wise.

The first pressing of 'The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators' is now very expensive and hard to find in good condition, but I'm lucky enough to have a very cool friend (JF) who owns a top mint copy –amongst many other Elevators rarities, such as the insanely rare French EP. So thank you JF, for allowing me to pick up this priceless LP from your collection to rip it for WTS readers pleasure. "

The Hollywood Brats - "The Hollywood Brats" (Cherry Red, Re-issue 1994)

In Greece we have an expression for Jekyll & Hyde situations that says: "Every coin has two sides". Probably you guys and gals from anyplace you’re coming from got it too or something similar anyway, but that's not our subject. Ever heard about New York Dolls evil twin? No? Too bad cause their Brit boyfriends and half the pattern of my beloved Hanoi Rocks’ sound (and from there of about a million more androgynous punk rebels) was the ‘other side’ of the aforementioned coin, probably as cheap as a penny and for sure as valuable as the Dolls.

This goddamn masterpiece believe it or not, had to wait in the can for seven long years! Recorded back in 1973 but came out for the first time in 1980... Think now what happened during those seven long years and what may have happened if this fucker was out on time! The Hollywood Brats would have now sickle Dolls saga. Truly outrageous, full of feathered boas, mascaras and stuff but without the all too feminine Dolls stylebook, championed by loonies like the prime minister of them, Keith Moon (the president would have been no other than Screamin’ Lord Sutch) and set the first step of one of my very fave bands ever, the Boys!

Did I say “The Boys”? Oh well, the all time sleaze break-up tune of “Sick On You” and “Tumble With Me” can be found here in all its prime savagery like the Faces of “Ooh La La” in drag, with campy piano playing that owes more to Esquerita than to Little Richard (listen to those first notes of “Chez-Maximes”, seconds before the guitars fire burn entry!) and thee syllable to syllable snotty edge that if you’re 15, bored to death and fat full of exploding hormones naturally becomes your national anthem (I’m not talking of course ‘bout good boys)! And the similarity with New York Dolls doesn’t stop here… Thunders gang ADORED 60s girls groups with most notable example this of Shangri-Las. Hollywood Brats fixation with the Crystals transformed into the best rock & roll adoption (“Then He Kissed Me”) of the Phil Sector’s finest gals songs (I love the Ronettes but sorry not as the sometimes Darlene Love fronted wildcat crew) along with the Fallen Angels “He’s A Rebel” take! The production was more garage oriented without the big stomping sound of the other glam acts in the UK, but hey, we’re talking about a punk band here, right?! Ha, I forgot to tell you that these brats were at first call themselves Queen! An out of control Freddie Mercury (well...kind of) one night at the Marquee crashed and demanded to change their name. Of course our boys kicked the shit outta him but they forced (I guess…) to change it in the end when the moustache fronted combo had its first hit.  On the 1994 Cherry Red re-issue CD, the few words in the liners almost like a blog post of A. Matheson made me realize why the dude was such a clever punk and why he was able to write such amazing lyrics!

“The Hollywood Brats was born of disgust. We simply couldn’t stomach anything that was happening in music at the time. It was all denim and drum solos. Where was the excitement, the danger, the outrageous clothes, the aggression, the glamour that made rock & roll the erotic narcotic we craved?” (…) “Next stop Olympic Studios where we continued to outrage all and sundry and trouble dogged our heels like a mutt with a fetish. We lorded over the Eagles, the Bee Gees, and Donovan because they were relegated in the mighty studio A while were relegated to the lowly B and C.Take up thy gongs and leave... The battle raged as producers and engineers kept trying to tone us down and smooth off our rough edges. Only we knew what the sound was supposed to be. We clawed like tigers in tantrum and soon the hired help wilted and slunk off down the corridors muttering death threats and left us to our devices” (…) “ We had made the music we wanted to make with no compromises or apologies but it was apparently too much, to soon. That’s life!”

Punk rock pioneers or what? 

pic taken from http://www.hollywoodbrats.com/

The Ramones - "It's Alive - Audio Fidelity Limited Edition" (Warner Bros, 2009)

Yay! This is the morning (OK, noon...) of a great night out with my old pals. Not much time for all of us even though we are living in the same city. Blame the fuckin' situation down here for that... Anyway. Our day jobs kept us me and JP as well very busy all past week. Probably this will happen and the one is starting over tomorrow. Keep an eye in here cause more things are about come from the WAX side of this site. You know what is the thing with the place is called Greece the last thousands years? SUN! Right this moment I'm sitting in my balcony having my one son of the two putting out of his mothers plants all the mold (the other one's a lazy dog, sleeping with no worries in the big fat shade!) and yours truly is trying to write something for the next post. Which is in much relation with the sun, and the summer. What really amazes me the most about Jean Philippe it's the almost unrealistic timing we share! I was about to post something by da brudders and found this on my mailbox this morning by my pal:

"Off-topic: audiophile punk-rock, what the fuck?

I already confessed my deadly sin: no Ramones records in my collection until recently. But I think I'm forgiven: since I purchased "It's Alive", I gave it so many spins it's almost like I played it once every week for 2 decades. And you know (you must know) what I did next: try & finding a better sounding copy. I don't buy so-called audiophile records. They just sound baaaad to my ears, with virtually no high frequencies. I usually stick to original copies or old reissues. Recent remastered crap isn't my cup of tea either (makes my ears bleed). And I usually stay away from records with "180g" sticker, and yet I bought the one shown below. It was mastered by audiophile guru Steve Hoffman. I usually care more about who's actually playing than who's touching knobs in the studio, but all the Hoffman-mastered records I have (Bo Diddley, Buddy Holly, Doors) sound really good (better than originals), I mean exactly like I enjoy rock music: bold but not harsh, sweet but not dry, blablabla (and all the audiophile shit talk you can think of). Anyway, his version of "It's Alive" is really good. I'm listening to "Teenage Lobotomy" now: it feels like my head is actually IN the drums. Kick-ass sound, really! My neighbor will hate me. The CD version sounds like what you can hear when you play music directly trough a mobile phone. OK, enough audiophile shit, 1,2,3,4"

I told you before mate, you REALLY have it, haha! So, this is the official twin bro of another Ramones goodie i posted some time ago. I'm not 100% on what my my good friend wrote (a Japanese vinyl pressing i own just kills!) but as always he has a good point here! Don't know who this Steve Hoffman mister is, but for sure he did an exceptional job to one of the best LIVE albums ever pressed. The kicking-ass masterpiece of the Ramones, recorded on New Year's eve 1977 with the 28 already classics by the three milestone first Ramones LPs ("Ramones", "Leave Home", "Rocket To Russia"), with no pause and hyper-speed delivery!

Have a nice week all!